Spotify U.S. launch nears with signing of Universal Music

If you’ve grown weary of your friends in the U.K. and Europe talking about how great Spotify is and lamenting the fact that you can’t sign up for it in the good old U.S.A., fear not — there’s officially a bright light at the end of the tunnel. It’s been known for quite some time that the company was pushing hard to get itself up and running on American shores, but as is so common with online media services, repeated delays were caused by the tiresome process of signing deals with rights holders.

Now, however, Spotify is within striking distance. Having already signed deals with Sony and EMI earlier this year, half the work was complete. All Things D reports that Spotify has also closed a deal with Universal Music, which leaves only the Warner Group as the final piece of the puzzle. Spotify and Warner are said to be closer than ever, and surely with the other three top labels already on board they’ll feel some pressure to get things done.

An exact launch date and subscription pricing remains unknown at this point, but it’s generally expected that Spotify will run around $10 per month in the U.S. Unlike the cloud music offerings from Amazon and Google which launched recently, Spotify provides desktop and mobile access to millions of tracks whether you own them or not — and its mobile apps even support offline caching so that you can listen to your favorites without the need for a data connection.

Rdio is actually a much more direct competitor, offering virtually identical functionality and selection. Even at $4.99 per month, Rdio has struggled to achieve real success in the U.S. so far — though a recent push from the folks at MTV has helped. Will the Spotify buzz help it vault into the top spot in the U.S., or could its higher pricetag drive users to a cheaper alternative like Rdio? Share your thoughts in the comments!